Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1505544
LELI had gone to the village Labour club before returning home, ate some supper, watched a television programme and went to sleep. Probably inspired by the con- versation at the Labour club, Leli dreamt of his beloved polit- ical party led by Dom Mintoff at the peak of his political career. The British were leaving for good and the Maltese people were liberated from the colonial past that saw their country be- ing used - and abused - in the interests of a foreign power. Leli dreamt of the huge meet- ings organised by his party, giv- ing an opportunity to all true Labourites to hear Dom Mintoff and be mesmerised by his ora- tory. He recalled the eerie si- lence that fell when Mintoff started addressing his followers, explaining why and how Malta needed to be liberated from the foreign military presence. Like many others, he adored Mintoff and believed in all that the leader said and did. Even when the leader said or did something that did not look right, he always believed in the leader... and concluded that the problem was his misunder- standing of the great leader who could do no wrong. The joy of Malta being de- clared a Republic and the last foreign military ship leaving the island were two great achieve- ments of his party led by Dom Mintoff. How could any Mal- tese not be as proud of this as he was? How could anyone dream of concocting accusations against Dom Mintoff? He was Malta's outstanding political protagonist and he had adored him. His only problem in life was that his political fervour was not shared by his wife. Other- wise adhering to Mintoff's beck and call was the most satisfying thing that dominated his life. He also dreamt of Labour's resurgence after Joseph Muscat was elected leader, but then his dream faded away. Lela had followed her hus- band and went to sleep as well. Lela dreamt of the day when as a little schoolgirl she had been taken to Floriana and waved the new flag of a new independent country - her own country. Her mind then switched on to the great speeches delivered by her party's great leader, Eddie Fenech Adami. She used to go to the PN meetings even though Leli did not like it. But he tol- erated it. And she was mesmer- ised by the speeches that were delivered by the PN's great leader, Fenech Adami. She dreamt of the struggle to save the schools that belonged to the Church. She dreamt of the day when a young man was capricious- ly shot in the PN club at Gud- ja - an event that continued to increase the anger of the com- mon people against the way the Mintoff government used its own 'gangsters' to terrify all those who did not agree with the Labour way of doing things. She dreamt of the Progress Press being destroyed by arson committed by these 'gangsters'. She dreamt of that day in May 1987 when Fenech Adami won the election and the labour re- gime had to go into Opposition, after all of 16 years. That was one of her greatest days - except, perhaps the day when Malta became a member state of the EU. And she chuck- led in her sleep when she real- ised how Labour in power had used our EU membership to its advantage after it had opposed this membership, hook, line and sinker. Suddenly it was time for the couple to wake up. They had grown old and start- ed showing signs of being tired with life. Leli switched on the television to hear the latest news as broadcast by One. Midway he found himself switching it off as he could not really stomach the current situation. Lela had gone to the kitchen where she switched on her radio set to follow the news broadcast on 101. Midway she found her- self switching it off. Nothing new or inspiring, she thought. The harsh reality of the cur- rent political situation had sud- denly changed their mood. The midsummer's night dream was just a dream that had flickered away. The harsh reality of the current despond- ency of the two main Maltese political parties was certainly a mood changer. What a drag, both thought while silently watching each other eat something for break- fast. Hoarding antiques There are people who hoard antiques. I am not one of them but they are common all over the world. Stolen artefacts from many countries are sold clan- destinely to persons who like to hoard them, or even to estab- lished museums. This trade is nothing new, ex- cept that today there is an inter- national effort to stop the theft and export of such antiques with a number of museums - es- pecially in the US - that found they had to return their prized acquisitions to their rightful owner and to the country from which they were stolen. Gozitan Minister, Anton Refa- lo is one such hoarder. Nothing wrong - so long as his antiques were obtained legally and above board. However, he has now met a setback. Recently the rumour mill said that he would soom be facing criminal police charges for the theft of a cultural artefact be- cause he allegedly was in breach of the cultural heritage law by having a protected early 19th century Victorian stone mark- ing in the courtyard of one of his properties in Qala. Incidentally, the VR stone marker near the poolside was discovered by chance after it appeared in a photo on the so- cial media posted by the min- ister's son in connection with a family birthday celebration! If arraigned, Refalo would have had to resign from his Cabinet post. But Refalo refuses to do such a thing! According to Mark Camilleri - the former Labour aficiona- do who was probably the first Labourite who fell foul of the Muscat administration - upon receiving notice from the At- torney-General that one of her prosecutors was working on a file to arraign Minister An- ton Refalo for stealing public and cultural heritage property, the Minister for Justice Jona- than Attard asked the Attor- ney-General to postpone the arraignment until the govern- ment finds 'a solution'. Mark Camilleri claims that Anton Refalo is now pressur- ing Minister for Culture, Owen Bonnici to change the Cultural Heritage Act so as to prevent his arraignment. Anton Refalo wants to add provisions in the law that would basically regularise any uniden- tified and unregistered cultural heritage owned by private indi- viduals. If this is true, changing the law to accommodate a breach carried out by a sitting minister who broke the law, would be a great travesty of justice. 7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 AUGUST 2023 OPINION A Midsummer Night's Dream Michael Falzon micfal45@gmail.com Anton Refalo